Pune: Share market scams and investment frauds dominated Pune’s cybercrime charts this year, but there’s a silver lining. Annual data released by the Pune police on Monday showed that both the number of cases and the total financial losses plunged to nearly half of last year’s figures. Legal experts, however, attributed the drop largely to a fraction of complaints making it to police records.According to the police data, 743 cybercrime cases amounting to Rs 221 crore were registered in 2025 as compared to 1,505 cases involving Rs 446 crore the previous year. Asked if these figures reflected the on-ground situation, Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said, “The data is still being verified. We will soon release curated information on cybercrimes in the city.”
Cyber law expert Gaurav Jachak told TOI, “Cybercrimes are on the rise. Cases of online share trading frauds, parcel scams, digital arrest frauds and task-based frauds are increasing. However, very few complaints are being registered by the police. Many victims are told their complaints cannot be filed due to staff shortages.”He said, “We now upload complaints on the national cybercrime portal and approach courts under Section 503 (legal procedure to seize property, bank accounts and others by the courts and by the police) of BNSS to freeze bank accounts and recover cheated amounts. If complaints filed on the portal were treated as FIRs, the actual number of cybercrimes would come to light.”Another cyber law expert, Ameya Dange, said, “It’s unlikely that cybercrime numbers have truly dropped. Police may have consolidated data from police stations and the cybercrime unit. We receive complaints daily. Often, investigations begin after a complaint application, but not all applications become FIRs. Many such complaints remain unregistered.”
